On Shifting Ground

In his new book, “A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World,” nature writer David Gessner grapples with communicating about climate change with the next generation. David and his daughter, Hadley, join Ray Suarez to have that conversation, and to spur all of us “hypocrites” who drive cars and fly in planes to fight the climate fight.

 

Guest:

 

David Gessner, nature writer and author of “A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World

 

Hadley Gessner, David’s daughter 

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

 

Direct download: 7-17_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Screenwriter Noah Pink tells Ray Suarez how he discovered the true story behind “Tetris,” from the Cold War race to secure the rights to the classic video game to its escape from the former Soviet Union.



Guest:

 

Noah Pink, “Tetris” screenwriter 

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 7-10_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Putin may have won the “battle” against Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin, but he’s losing the meme war. Ray speaks with Jen Kirby, Vox’s foreign and national security reporter, about fact verification and conflict reporting amidst state propaganda and viral Twitter memes. 

 

Guest:

 

Jen Kirby, senior foreign and national security reporter at Vox

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 7-10_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Peace is a process, not an outcome. And in the case of Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s meddling in the country’s civil war has prevented peace for almost a decade. Ray Suarez speaks with Arwa Mokdad, Peace Advocate with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, about what a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran could mean for the future of Yemen.

 

Guest:

 

Arwa Mokdad, Peace Advocate with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 7-3_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Can a single gathering of world leaders really pull billions of people out of poverty? Eric Pelofsky, Deputy Chief of Staff and Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, joined Ray Suarez days before the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris to share how international financial institutions can make up for past mistakes.

 

Guest:

 

Eric Pelofsky, Deputy Chief of Staff and Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 7-3_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Conspiracy communities that once promoted QAnon and anti-vaccine theories have now sunk their teeth into an even tastier morsel: our food supply chain. Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom,” joins Ray Suarez to break down how cracks in our food system have paved the way for international conspiracy theories about the ongoing food crisis. 

 

Guest:

 

Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom

 

Host:  

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 6-26_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Concerns about a 'global elite' exerting control over demographic shifts and our food choices have hit the mainstream, and they are feeding anxieties. Ray Suarez speaks with French legal scholar Rim-Sarah Alouane about the "great replacement theory", and what it takes to be considered “French first.”

 

Guest:

 

Ridha Khadher, baker and owner of Au Paradis du gourmand

 

Rim-Sarah Alouane, French legal scholar

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 6-26_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

The 1998-1999 war in Kosovo may have ended the fighting between Serbs and Albanian Kosovars, but it didn’t end the conflict. Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins Ray Suarez to explain why ethnic tensions are once again flaring up in the Balkans.

 

Guest:

 

Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

 

Direct download: 6-19_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s all-powerful leader of 20 years, was recently re-elected, raising serious questions about the state of Turkey’s democracy. Is Erdoğan trying to rebuild the Ottoman Empire? And is his republic Russia’s Trojan Horse in NATO? Ray Suarez speaks with Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy about Erdoğan’s imperial ambitions.

 

Guest:

 

Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy

 

Host:

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 6-19_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

For decades, Georgia has tried to extricate itself from Russia's shadow. But with the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees and anti-war Russians and the rise of Georgia’s Dream Party, the former Soviet state is once again walking a political tightrope between Russia and a tenuous future with NATO. In this episode, reporter Levi Bridges takes us on the ground to hear about the dangers of standing up to Russia.

 

Reporter:

 

Levi Bridges, journalist 

 

Featured guests:

 

Daniil Chubar, co-founder of Emigration for Action 

 

Monika Jaranowska, Director of Kids Club "Happy Me" Tbilisi

 

Giga Bokeria, leader of the European Georgia party

 

Sonja Schiffers, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Tbilisi Office

 

Giorgi Khelashvili, Georgian Dream MP and Deputy Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia

 

Host:  

 

Ray Suarez

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 6-12_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT